'Bayanihan' gives hope to distressed OFW

ABS-CBN News

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – The "bayanihan" spirit brought hope back to a Filipina who fled her employer but could not find another job after developing a skin condition.

Marifel Motol was a household service worker who was forced to take care of several people aside from her employer. Aside from that, her employer did not pay her the salary they agreed upon so she escaped.

Her problem did not stop there as she soon developed a fish scale-like skin disease.

“Basta nagumpisa ito nangati lang siya," said Motol who first noticed the disease in July.

Her inability to send money back to home to her five children further worried her.

Her brother brought her case before the advocacy group Patnubay. A Filipino nurse who checked her up said she had Steven Johnson Disease which she developed when she once drank antibiotics without the proper medical prescription from a doctor.

The group referred her to the Assistance To National unit of the Philippine Embassy. She was immediately brought to a government hospital for treatment.

When her condition improved, Motol was brought to a Bahay Kalinga where she will stay until her repatriation to the Philippines. Report from Roland Blanco, ABS-CBN Middle East News Bureau